Hospitals and surgery centers often need to remove body hair from patients at a surgical site prior to performing a surgical procedure. Straight blade razors are generally not the preferred mode of removing hair as these devices may inadvertently nick or cut a patient's skin and, therefore, introduce the possibility of infections at the surgical site. Because of such problems, electric clippers are a preferred mode of hair removal in hospitals and surgery centers in order to prevent surgical site infections. However, there are currently no sterile electric clippers available to hospitals and surgical centers. In some cases, the disposable clipper heads alone may be packaged and sterilized for use in the hospital or surgery center. However, once the sterile clipper head is attached to a clipper body that is not sterile, the entire unit, including the clipper head, becomes non-sterile and is unable to be used in a sterile setting.
Therefore, there exists a need for a surgical clipper that may be sterilized as a complete unit and that is disposed of after use on a single patient.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.